Lopez Tabor Duo to perform for Music at Messiah

MADISON – The next concert installment for Music at Messiah will feature the Lopez Tabor Duo.

This concert will start on Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. in Messiah Lutheran Church’s sanctuary, 7740 U.S. 72 W. in Madison.

The concert is free and open to the public, spokesperson John W. Shriver said. However, donations from the audience will be welcome.

The Lopez Tabor Duo features violinist Alfonso Lopez, concert master of Venezuela Symphony Orchestra, and pianist Michelle Tabor.

Their two-part varied program first will feature a traditional repertoire with a short sonata for violin and keyboard by Italian Baroque master Arcangelo Corelli. Other pieces will include a 19th-century sonata in A Major by Belgian Cesar Franck. This sonata uses four movements to express a broad range of moods, Lopez said.

In the second part, the duo will perform short works, beginning with a virtuosic violin showpiece by Henri Wieniawski. The remainder will focus on music from the Hispanic world, including Spanish composer Ernesto Halffter, “Pregon” inspired by Cuban music and “Danza de la Pastora,” a Spanish dance.

Venezuelan composers Cruz Felipe Iriarte and Alfonso Lopez wrote the last three lively works. The Dominican merengue and Baroque music inspired Lopez’s two pieces. Iriarte’s piece, a Venezuelan merengue, has interesting rhythm.

Alfonso Lopez is one of the most versatile and prominent musicians of his generation in Venezuela, Shriver said. Lopez is a professor of violin at the Emil Friedman School, a private musical and general educational institution in Venezuela. As soloist, he has performed in Spain, Italy, United States, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago.

Michelle Tabor earned a doctorate’s degree in piano and theory from Tulane University in New Orleans, the University of Denver and Florida State University. She has presented lecture, recitals and research papers at national and regional meetings of the College Music Society and regional meetings of American Musicological Society.

Since 2000, Tabor has presented recitals in Caracas, along with festivals such as Pro Musica de Camara, Friedman Festival of Chamber Music, the series Recital con la Sinfonica at the Asociacion Cultural Humboldt and the Centro Cultural Croata.

For more information, visit musicatmessiah.org or Facebook/Music at Messiah.